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Implementing research projects on community-based health care interventions in low-ressource settings is feasible with specific methods and applications. In order to critically understand all ins and outs of influencing factors involved in health care pathways for children and their mothers, we must consider to implement more than one research in the same context.
Objectives
The objective of this presentation is to showcase the continuum of research projects starting from the assessment of the effectiveness of a combined nutrition and psychosocial intervention and its economic evaluation, and how that led to exploring social representations of malnutrition in order to better understand the link with health care seeking behaviours.
Methods
The FUSAM cluster randomized control trial included 427 were severe acutely malnourished (SAM) children and their mothers. They were divided in two groups receiving the standard nutrition treatment while the intervention group benefited from five psychosocial sessions. A battery of tests for child development and maternal mental health was administered pre and post intervention. For the economic evaluation, a data collection was conducted with 98 community members and District Public Health Office personnel in Saptari and 17 Action contre la Faim and government personnel in Kathmandu. Finally, a mixed-method study comparing social representations of malnutrition included 376 adults in Saptari and Nuwakot district. Data analysis was performed according to the study design: a multivariate model analysis for the CRCT, a micro-costing methodology to cost data collection and analysis was favored. For the mixed-method analysis, descriptive and inductive analysis were performed.
Results
Regarding the child development, children in the intervention group showed higher scores than children in the control group at all time points. And the economic evaluation showed that the costs of adding psychosocial counselling to an existing CMAM program was approximately EUR 28,788 for 6 centers per year. However, referrals of children through the community-based screening were not optimal. The findings related to health seeking behaviors showed that different meaning categories were simultaneously resorted to by community members leading to different representations of SAM children and that relevant health advises were neither systematically nor uniquely associated to medical categories but are linked to different meaning categories depending on the cultural context.
Conclusions
Multiplying research projects is crucial to mitigate the limitations of the studies often facing numerous contextual challenges and ultimately to leverage further opportunities.
The National Institute of Health has mandated good clinical practice (GCP) training for all clinical research investigators and professionals. We developed a GCP game using the Kaizen-Education platform. The GCP Kaizen game was designed to help clinical research professionals immerse themselves into applying International Conference on Harmonization GCP (R2) guidelines in the clinical research setting through case-based questions.
Methods:
Students were invited to participate in the GCP Kaizen game as part of their 100% online academic Masters during the Spring 2019 semester. The structure of the game consisted of 75 original multiple choice and 25 repeated questions stemming from fictitious vignettes that were distributed across 10 weeks. Each question presented a teachable rationale after the answers were submitted. At the end of the game, a satisfaction survey was issued to collect player satisfaction data on the game platform, content, experience as well as perceptions of GCP learning and future GCP concept application.
Results:
There were 71 total players who participated and answered at least one question. Of those, 53 (75%) answered all 100 questions. The game had a high Cronbach’s alpha, and item analyses provided information on question quality, thus assisting us in future quality edits before re-testing and wider dissemination.
Conclusions:
The GCP Kaizen game provides an alternative method for mandated GCP training using principles of gamification. It proved to be a reliable and an effective educational method with high player satisfaction.
Antigenic variation in malaria was discovered in Plasmodium knowlesi studies involving longitudinal infections of rhesus macaques (M. mulatta). The variant proteins, known as the P. knowlesi Schizont Infected Cell Agglutination (SICA) antigens and the P. falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1 (PfEMP1) antigens, expressed by the SICAvar and var multigene families, respectively, have been studied for over 30 years. Expression of the SICA antigens in P. knowlesi requires a splenic component, and specific antibodies are necessary for variant antigen switch events in vivo. Outstanding questions revolve around the role of the spleen and the mechanisms by which the expression of these variant antigen families are regulated. Importantly, the longitudinal dynamics and molecular mechanisms that govern variant antigen expression can be studied with P. knowlesi infection of its mammalian and vector hosts. Synchronous infections can be initiated with established clones and studied at multi-omic levels, with the benefit of computational tools from systems biology that permit the integration of datasets and the design of explanatory, predictive mathematical models. Here we provide an historical account of this topic, while highlighting the potential for maximizing the use of P. knowlesi – macaque model systems and summarizing exciting new progress in this area of research.
Studies have criticized the low level of agreement between the various methods of personality disorder (PD) assessment. This is an important issue for research and clinical purposes.
Method
Seven hundred and forty-two participants in the Hopkins Epidemiology of Personality Disorders Study (HEPS) were assessed on two occasions using the Personality Disorder Schedule (PDS) and the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE). The concordance between the two diagnostic methods for all DSM-IV PDs was assessed using standard methods and also two item response analytic approaches designed to take account of measurement error: a latent trait-based approach and a generalized estimating equations (GEE)-based approach, with post-hoc adjustment.
Results
Raw criteria counts, using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), κ and odds ratio (OR), showed poor concordance. The more refined statistical methods showed a moderate to moderately high level of concordance between the methods for most PDs studied. Overall, the PDS produced lower prevalences of traits but higher precision of measurement than the IPDE. Specific criteria within each PD showed varying endorsement thresholds and precision for ascertaining the disorder.
Conclusions
Concordance in the raw measurement of the individual PD criteria between the two clinical methods is lacking. However, based on two statistical methods that adjust for differential endorsement thresholds and measurement error in the assessments, we deduce that the PD constructs themselves can be measured with a moderate degree of confidence regardless of the clinical approach used. This may suggest that the individual criteria for each PD are, in and of themselves, less specific for diagnosis, but as a group the criteria for each PD usefully identify specific PD constructs.
The effects of the ambient fluid on granular flow dynamics are poorly understood and commonly ignored in analyses. In this article, we characterize and quantify these effects by combining theoretical and experimental analyses. Starting with the mixture theory, we derive a set of two-phase continuum equations for studying a compressible granular flow composed of homogenous solid particles and a Newtonian ambient fluid. The role of the ambient fluid is then investigated by studying the collapse and spreading of two-dimensional granular columns in air or water, for different solid particle sizes and column aspect (height to length) ratios, in which the front speed is used to describe the flow. The combined analysis of experimental measurements and numerical solutions shows that the dynamics of the solid phase cannot be explained if the hydrodynamic fluid pressure and the drag interactions are not included in the analysis. For instance, hydrodynamic fluid pressure can hold the reduced weight of the solids, thus inducing a transition from dense-compacted to dense-suspended granular flows, whereas drag forces counteract the solids movement, especially within the near-wall viscous layer. We conclude that in order to obtain a realistic representation of gravitational granular flow dynamics, the ambient fluid cannot be neglected.
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is probably an etiologically heterogeneous condition. Many patients manifest other psychiatric syndromes. This study investigated the relationship between OCD and co-morbid conditions to identify subtypes.
Method
Seven hundred and six individuals with OCD were assessed in the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study (OCGS). Multi-level latent class analysis was conducted based on the presence of eight co-morbid psychiatric conditions [generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), major depression, panic disorder (PD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), tics, mania, somatization disorders (Som) and grooming disorders (GrD)]. The relationship of the derived classes to specific clinical characteristics was investigated.
Results
Two and three classes of OCD syndromes emerge from the analyses. The two-class solution describes lesser and greater co-morbidity classes and the more descriptive three-class solution is characterized by: (1) an OCD simplex class, in which major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most frequent additional disorder; (2) an OCD co-morbid tic-related class, in which tics are prominent and affective syndromes are considerably rarer; and (3) an OCD co-morbid affective-related class in which PD and affective syndromes are highly represented. The OCD co-morbid tic-related class is predominantly male and characterized by high conscientiousness. The OCD co-morbid affective-related class is predominantly female, has a young age at onset, obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) features, high scores on the ‘taboo’ factor of OCD symptoms, and low conscientiousness.
Conclusions
OCD can be classified into three classes based on co-morbidity. Membership within a class is differentially associated with other clinical characteristics. These classes, if replicated, should have important implications for research and clinical endeavors.
The high precision X-ray spectroscopy studies of plasma created from the CO2 clusters in gas jet targets by the ultrashort laser pulses (35 and 60 fs duration) were performed at the intensities IL ∼ 1017–1018 W cm−2. The spectral line shape of the H-like and He-like oxygen ions gains an asymmetry with increasing the laser pulse intensity. Theoretical modeling of the line shape shows that the asymmetry can be explained by absorption of the Doppler-shifted line radiation from the essential fraction of ions (over 10−3) with energies above 1 MeV due to photoionization of inner shells of carbon ions. The results obtained demonstrate measurement capabilities of the X-ray spectral measurements of multicharged ions accelerated during the interaction with a laser radiation.